


The Best Mistake

by SirenFromTheLostCity



Category: inFAMOUS: Second Son
Genre: Cops, F/M, Growing Romance, misdemeanor vandalism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2018-09-20 07:20:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9480896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirenFromTheLostCity/pseuds/SirenFromTheLostCity
Summary: this is actually a rewritten version of a story i published somewhere else but i plan to separate this into two parts. This is set a year or so before Delsin became a conduit and the second part will take place during second son.





	1. Bonnie and Clyde

1 and a half years ago, Salmon Bay......

It’s not often that you tread on the sand and soil of the Akomish reservation in Salmon Bay. Yet every time you come by, the scene seems to always be on a constant repeat of serenity. The seagulls are flying about and the sun, not yet setting, is decorating the sky with hues of orange and blue. All is more or less the scene you are used to seeing, however today the setting is being accommodated with a strange notion in your gut that today is not just an average day. The foreign sensation is not a bad sensation so to speak but try as you might you just can’t seem to shake it off. 

Originally you had planned on going to the bay by yourself in your parent's’ car but evidently enough they took off earlier that morning and left you home with no mode of transportation. You then decided to take the bus to the reservation but luckily your cousin was feeling generous and offered to drop you off at your desired destination. They understood that you wanted to be alone and so they agreed to take you home once you were done pondering. Seeing as to how they had errands to run in the next town nearby, they had no problems with the arrangement. 

Thus now you are walking by the bay, admiring the sun's reflection glistening amongst the water creating the perfect leisurely scene for you to reflect your thoughts. The gentle swooshing sounds of the tides only do more justice to ease your mind. Surprisingly enough, the echos of the seagulls aren't bothering you much at all. Minus the occasional ducking when the seagulls fly by a little too close for comfort,, you are in complete bliss.

Until suddenly you hear a strange sound.

"TSSSSSSST TSSSSSSSTT TSSSST"

"What in the-?" you halt in your steps. Your curiosity intensifies as you keep hearing the sound from a nearby distance.

"TSSST TSSSSSSST TSSSSST TSST"

"Is that.... a spray can?"

Intrigued by the sound, you begin to follow it, leading you to God knows where but you don't care. Like a moth to a flame, you continue to follow the sound as if in some trance. Your walking comes to a halt as you hear the sound of a metal ball clashing and shaking within a small container, pulling you out of your trance, and you finally meet the source of the sound.

As you guessed, the sound was in fact coming from a spray can but as that mystery was solved a new one unraveled right in front of you. Before you is a man who appears to be spray painting an owl, coincidentally enough a creature you are very fond of, on a very large boulder.

The man is still unaware of your lurking presence so you use that to the best of your advantage and take a seat on a nearby log to observe his work. You've been to several art galleries and have seen many famous paintings. Yet all branches of visual arts are very distinct from one another and you of all people knew that. Street Art just so happened to have always been a secret favorite of yours. It was spunky and illegal.

After several minutes of continuous spraying sounds the mysterious man is still not aware of your loitering form behind him. That is until he finally turns around and is immediately greeted by your unanticipated form. 

His eyes go wide with surprise, then his lips curl into a small smirk admiring your craftiness, then he goes back into a slight panic mode again as he realizes he’s just been caught vandalizing a defenseless boulder.

"Woah, okay how long have you been sitting there?" he nervously asks. 

"I don't know. Long enough," you shrug your shoulders.

He takes a glance at you, then at his recent tag, then at you once more and releases a sheepish laugh, "Any chance you could just pretend you didn't see me...or this?" he motions to his freshly painted owl.

"Why wouldn't I wanna see this?" you ask, feeling perplexed. "I actually really like it."

"Really?" now it’s his turn to be confused. "So you're not gonna call the cops-if you didn't already?"

You shake your head side to side as you faintly chuckle, "I've seen and been around enough authority for one life to care about reporting you to the cops. Especially for something like this, I mean it's really good. Wouldn't wanna see you get in trouble for something this small and definitely wouldn't want them to paint over it or something."

It’s at that moment when you finished talking that you really get a chance to get a good look at the man. He’s wearing black shoes and regular dark blue jeans which actually compliment his tall frame. He sports a red white and blue plaid shirt topped off with a burgundy beanie and a black hoodie with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows revealing an interesting green Navajo tattoo on his left forearm. He has a tan complexion and one of the most attractive faces you have ever seen. The more you looked at him the more appealing he became. It'd be hard for anyone not to stare, and unfortunately he caught you.

"Like what you see?" he smirks.

You instantly feel your cheeks heat up, lighting your face a bright red. In attempt to regain your cool composure you release a playful scoff, "Shut up, I just happened to get lost in thought is all...on your face...I-I just tend to daydream a lot randomly. That's what I was trying to say," you sigh.

'Smooth.'

To your surprise the man only chuckles and takes a seat next to you on the log, "I think it's cute. And don't worry about getting 'lost in thought' on my face," he winks. "Oh and thanks for not calling the cops on me, you'd be one of the first ."

"Really?"

"Really. My brother is one of the Salmon Bay boys in blue and needless to say the people here know us, and they know especially of my tagging 'habits," he cocks his head to look at you. "Speaking of which, I know I definitely would've noticed you if you lived around here. What brings you around?"

A light shade of pink begins to highlight your face again,"Is that what you're known for?" you ask, implying to his flirting.

"Well that and my amazing tagging skills," he grins as he extends his hand out to you. Though you have only met the man you could already presume that smirking was another unbreakable habit of his. "Delsin Rowe. A devilishly handsome tagger, destined for greatness."

You shake his hand and bluntly say your name.

"What no intro?" he frowns. 

"What do you want me to tell you?"

"Anything. What's something you like to do?"

"Okay. Well uh I like photography and I like to draw," you say with a simple shrug of your shoulders. You never really thought much about your hobbies. Didn't often do things out of the ordinary. Boy was that about to change.

"Really?" Delsin asks, seemingly interested.

"Uh-yeah. I mean I've never done street art but I don't judge. I appreciate all forms of art that there is and I believe that beauty is in the eye of the beholder," you stand up from your previous seat from the log and make your way to the owl tag to examine it, Delsin's eyes following your form. "I really like this owl you did. Figured out what you're gonna call it yet?"

"You wanna give it a shot?" he casually asks.

You turn around and give Delsin shocked expression, "Seriously?"

"Yeah, go for it. Wanna see how you think," he positions himself so his arms are now resting atop of his knees.

You turn back around to look at the tag and release a hum in thought,"How about....word to the wise?" you glance at him." 'Cause the owl represents wisdom and all...what do you think?" you gave a shy grimace.

"Hmph I like it. Word to the wise," he repeats. "So is that why you like it so much? Because the owl represents wisdom?" he stands up and walks to approach your side. 

"Yeah. My dad is super strict. He expects me to follow a certain path that’s he’s basically been aligning for me since like forever so he doesn't allow mistakes, won't even tolerate the mere thought of one," you rolled your eyes. "Living like that leaves you with a of pressure y'know, which is why I came out here. Basically to escape him for a bit.”

"Well y'know we're only human. Saying you'll never make a mistake is like saying you'll never catch a cold. Saying that you won't permit one is just plain ignorance."

"You try telling him that," you scoff.

"Oh I wouldn’t mind," he simpers, "But something tells me that you would rather have the honors to do that yourself."

"Damn right."

"But," he adds, “keep in mind that there are bad mistakes and also good mistakes."

Puzzled, you turn your head to face a grinning Delsin and you urge him to continue explaining. 

"Well me, for instance. My brother is a pretty well known cop here so maybe vandalizing a defenseless boulder wouldn't have been the wisest of decisions."

“I’ll say,” you lightly chuckle.

"But,” he points out, “I gotta find some way assert my talent and express myself. Some might say it was a total bad idea or foolish mistake but I say it was a pretty damn great mistake you wanna know why?"

"Why?" You curiously ask as he steps closer to you. 

"Beca-"

Just as Delsin was about to finish his explanation, police sirens start echoing from a distance. The sound gets closer and closer by the second alerting you both as you frantically turn your heads towards the direction of the sound.

"Wh-what was that?" you panic. 

"Our cue to get the hell out of here, come on!"

Fast on his feet Delsin grabs your hand and together you two run.

~

You lost count of how many turns you made. All that was on your mind was getting away and not getting arrested. Never have you ran so fast in your life before and never have you ever experienced such a thrill as this. Running away from the authorities, a mission to escape. Even your new Akomish friend noticed your excitement.

He grins at you as he looks back to make sure you are still behind him, "This way, we should be able to just hide in here for a bit," he said as the both of you near a fish cannery. The smell doesn't make you a fan of the place but beggars can't be choosers. Especially with a cop chasing after you. 

All seems to be going accordingly to the plan. That is until a very tall and very angry man wearing a Sheriff jacket storms out of the fish cannery and walks straight over to Delsin.

"Aw c'mon, how the hell did you know we were coming here?" Delsin glares at the cop.

"First of all, you were trying to outrun a pickup truck. How exactly did you expect to win that race?"

'Huh....alright good point.'

"And second, we have a GPS link on our phones so obviously I already knew where you were heading!"

The officer looked really mad as he spoke to Delsin. Something about the way he scolds him reminds you of how a parent would do so to their child. After that deduction it doesn't take you long to figure out that this is the cop brother Delsin was talking about and that this is most likely not Delsin's first time getting caught by him.

"Okay but was this really worth your time to come and arrest me? Is this really the worst 'crime' a person can commit?" Delsin argues.

"For God's sake Delsin, no tagging anything during all hours of the day. How hard is that to understand and obey?"

The fighting continued for what felt like hours but it in reality only about two minutes had past. Yet who knows how long the two Rowe brothers could've gone at it. Standing idly by the two arguing brothers is not how you'd prefer to spend your free time.

"Uh guys?" both brothers turn their head to face you, "I'd hate to interrupt a live family feud episode but I gotta go-"

"Oh how nice, Delsin. You managed to find yourself an accomplice," the officer snarls. 

"Wait-what?" you frown as the officer grabs both your wrists and takes out his cuffs. "Wh-what are you doing?!" Knowing what his actions are leading to, you attempt to break free from his grip but to no avail.

"Reggie don't, she's got nothin' to do with this," Delsin beckons. "We literally met a few minutes ago, stop being such a dick!"

Reggie looks at both you and Delsin as if contemplating on something but no further actions are committed.

"Reg..... C'mon brother, please?" Delsin attempts once more to convince his brother to let you go.

"Look officer....Rowe, please don't do this. I've never gotten arrested before and my parents would totally kill before I could even get to court," you plead.

Reggie looks at you once more and senses your honesty. He sighs and finally unlocks your cuffs to set you free. You rub your wrists as you mumble a quick thanks as you walk over to Delsin still feeling a bit anxious.

"What's your name?" he asks.

"(F/-"

"(F/N) (L/N)," Delsin interrupts. The three of you share a few quick awkward glances before Reggie decides to speak up again.

"(L/N)," he repeats. "Why does that sound so familiar."

"It's not... it’s just quite common is all. I- uh I should really get going," you say as you give a small wave of your hand and start to walk back to the spot you first dropped off at.

However, before you could get very far, Delsin grabs your arm effectively halting you, "Wait, do you need a ride?"

"No it's okay, I was just about to call my cousin to pick me up," you honestly reply.

"You sure?" he asks as he releases your arm. "We could give you a ride, Reggie won't mind."

Reggie sends Delsin a quick death glare, "Yeah thanks for asking by the way."

"Dude," Delsin returns the glare.

"It's cool guys. I'm just gonna-"

"(Name) I won't mind. Really. Think of it as an apology for the whole handcuff thing," Reggie solemnly speaks.

"You sure?" you ask still feeling unsure.

He only nods and gives you a small genuine smile. Though it’s a small gesture you could feel the sincerity and gladly return the kind gesture. Delsin on the other hand only uses the short exchange between you and his brother to sneak his way closer to you. Frankly you weren't aware of his actions or how close he was getting until you heard him speak up.

"I call sitting next to (Name)," he ardently proclaims. 

Reggie mumbles a quick, "Fine by me," as he steps into the driver's seat of his car. Meanwhile you make you way to the backseat with a grinning Delsin by your side.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
Reggie pulls up his car by your house and you thank him for the ride as you exit the car. Delsin follows you out and up the steps to your doorstep until you both come to a halt when you finally reach the top. 

"See, I told you there'd be no robbers or kidnappers waiting for me at home. I appreciate you escorting me to my doorstep though," you sarcastically say to him since he insisted on escorting you up the steps for "protection". An excuse you admittingly find somewhat lame and somewhat cute.

"Anything for you," he winks.

You chuckle, "Good night, Delsin."

"Good night (Name)," he says as he begins to slowly descend the steps of your porch. 

As you watch him leave your porch you can’t help but not want the interaction to end. You also notice how sluggish he’s walking and wonder if it’s because he’s thinking the same thing too. As you ponder your options, you take in a big breath before finally deciding on what to do. 

“Hey Delsin, wait,” you call out to him. 

Immediately he turns to face you,"What, you miss me already?" he gleefully remarks.

“Ha, and you’re funny too. Actually I uh….,” you freeze as you realize you didn’t fully think through what you were going to actually say. “Um… I-uh, oh! I just remembered…. you never did tell me why that mistake you made earlier, with the graffiti and all, why it was such a pretty damn good one.”

"Really? How forgetful of me,” he complacently states as he goes up two steps. “Why don't I tell you tomorrow?"

"Where?"

"Anywhere."

You hum a bit before finalizing the location, "How about the Latte Owl? Four o'clock?"

“Okay. Just one question.”

“Yeah?” You frown in curiosity. 

“Do you go to that cafe for the aesthetics or do you actually genuinely like their coffee?” 

You burst into a mini laughing bit before answering,”Honestly, a little bit of both.” 

At your answer Delsin starts to chuckle. 

“What? C’mon I’m a photographer so of course aesthetics comes with the gig. And their coffee is actually pretty good,” you cross your arms

“Hey no judgement,” he shrugs his shoulders and smiles. “I will definitely be there tomorrow.” 

“Can’t wait.”


	2. acquainted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for bearing with me xxx

"Ugh, where the hell is it?!" Delsin mutters to himself as he searches his room and aggressively pads his pockets.

Only a day has passed since you two became acquainted and already he has misplaced your cell phone number.

"Okay she gave me the piece of paper; I put it in my pocket; showered; lost my phone; fell asleep; found my phone; and her number is mysteriously missing. Great. Fucking perfect,” he rolls his eyes, regretting not just imputing your number in his phone like a normal person. 

He paces back and forth continuously throughout his entire home. Delsin and Reggie share a quaint little house. It was once owned by their parents, until an unfortunate accident happened and so the home has been passed down to the Rowe brothers. Yet, due to Reggie's job he's fully engrossed with police work, therefore, almost rarely home. Which suddenly gives Delsin a conniving idea as he stops his pacing right in front of Reggie's unlocked room.

He slowly pushes the door open and eyes his surroundings as he walks in, "Hey Reggie," he calls out, "you won't mind if I borrow your laptop for a bit right?" he asks out loud knowing very well Reggie isn't present to give him a response.

"No? Okay. Thanks bro," Delsin deviously smiles to himself as he grabs his brother's laptop and begins to fumble with it.

"Alright let's see here," he sits down on Reggie's bed and presses random buttons as the laptop starts. "Password? Password. Password. Password. Password...."

He tilts his head as he ponders for the word to unlock Reggie's laptop and access his police files.

"Name of our cat? Course not, we never had a cat. Uhh how about.... Yes! SlyCooper123? Really Reg?" He laughs. "Alright, now to find (Name). Pfft how hard can this be," he says, boastfully.

As soon as the home screen loads, Delsin starts his quest to find you in the Akomish system. However, after a minute or two, he finally comes to a realization that your name will not appear on the computer screen. 

"Wait, (Name) lives in Seattle. Reggie only has the profiles of Salmon Bay," he sighs. "Well isn't this a waste of time."

Sighing in defeat, he begins to exit out of all the opened programs to leave Reggie's laptop as it were. Therefore, Reggie would never suspect his brother meddling with it. Although he has to retreat from his original scheme, his new plan to delete all evidence of his tampering with Reggie's laptop seems to be going effortlessly well. 

That is until the computer suddenly freezes.

"What? Ugh c'mon," frustrated, Delsin starts to spam the bottom arrow key. As that proves ineffective he spams for another, then another. In a flash the screen goes blue.

"Shit, shit, shit!" he panics. "Reggie's gonna kill me!"

"Delsin? Are you in here?" a familiar loud voice omits from down the hall, causing Delsin's apprehensiveness to increase.

Before Delsin could do any feeble attempt to leave the scene, Reggie enters his room. He immediately looks at Delsin holding his laptop and like a deer in front of headlights, and much like Reggie's laptop, Delsin freezes. 

"Delsin! What the -"

"Nu-uh, it's not what it looks like, Reg," he interrupts, "I asked you before I even used it."

"What? I wasn't even here!" Reggie retorts with a befuddled expression.

"And that's my fault how?"

Reggie openes his mouth to speak but nothing comes out. For once he didn't have a retort.

"Just give me the damn thing," Reggie demands and promptly checks if his files are still intact. "Delsin, what the hell did you do to it?"

"Nothing," Delsin sheepishly replies. However, Reggie knew his brother too well to know "nothing" most definitely meant something. Sometimes even everything. He gives Delsin a hard knowing stare until he finally caves in.

"Alright fine. I lost (Name)'s number so I figured I'd just look her up on your police crap files and find it there. But-"

"But then you realized she's a Seattle citizen and that there was no way she would be on here?" Reggie states with one brow raised as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. And it was.

Delsin rolls his eyes, "Yeah and when I tried to exit out, your stupid computer froze and then went all blue."

"You're lucky this one's only a decoy," Reggie scoffs.

"What?"

"You think I'd leave a perfectly good working laptop with police files unprotected in my room, knowing you're probably home?" Reggie shamelessly proclaims. 

 

"Y'know at this point it's kinda hard to be offended by that kind of stuff but at least you were one step ahead of me," says Delsin,"for once."

Reggie only delivers him a stern look, "You know you could've just asked me, because then I would've given you this," he pulls out a small wrinkled piece of paper from his pocket and at that Delsin's eyes sparkle like you were holding up a spray can and an empty canvas. 

"Where did you-"

"You left it in my car, smartass. Must've slipped from your pocket or something."

"And you couldn't have given it to me sooner?" Delsin goes to take the piece of paper from Reggie's hand but Reggie swiftly snatchs his hand away before he could even touch it.

"Hold up Delsin there's something you gotta know before you get involved with this girl."

Muddled, Delsin replies,"What? Did she rob a bank or something? 'Cause that's okay, you know I like the daring type." He winks.

Reggie just rolls his eyes at his brother's comment, "Has she told you anything about her father?"

"Mmm nope. Couldn't get into her family history much y’know due to a pickup truck chasing us that evening. Thanks a lot for that by the way. I think nearly getting arrested is what fully convinced her to go on a date with me," he sarcastically replies. 

"You got the date didn't you?" Reggie scoffs. 

"Hmph, you're right. Must've been my charming good looks," he laughs but the sight of Reggie’s unamused face causes his laugher to slowly die down. "She didn't specifically say who her dad is, but she did say something about him being super strict," he rises up from his spot and walks out of the room towards the kitchen, Reggie following him from behind. "Why, you know 'em?"

"'Know em'?' Delsin he's the Deputy Chief of Washington state, strict is an understatement when it comes to this guy. I didn't realize this until I asked one of my cop buddies about it and he told me everything. No wonder her name sounded so familiar," he scratches the back of his head.

"So why exactly should this concern me?" Delsin asks. 

"Because do you think a man like him, having the reputation that he has, would want his daughter to be hanging out with a guy like you?"

"A guy like me?" Delsin repeats, clearly offended. 

"You know what I mean, Del. Maybe girls find the whole bad boy act charming but don't think that dads do," Reggie says in a cautionary tone.

"Reg, I'm only meeting up with her to have coffee. I don't even know her mother's name yet and you're already talking about if her father would approve of me. Besides," he takes out a bottled water from the fridge and takes a seat by the nearby counter, "She needs a break; took the first chance she had and coincidentally met me. Which was probably bound to happen at some point anyways. Everyone knows strict parents create sneaky kids. Hell even I didn't notice her until I turned around. But you should've seen her Reg, you know before you almost arrested us," he casually takes a sip of his water. 

Reggie scoffs knowing Delsin clearly wasn't gonna let it go any time soon, "Bring it up one more time and I'll arrest you for trying to steal information from an officer's laptop."

"Okay, okay, fine," Delsin raises his hands up in surrender, "But before that happened, she was all relieved and happy. Who knows what goes on in her house, man. I just wanna show her a good time. If that means sneaking around her parents then so be it. I actually think she prefers it that way. The adrenaline rush, can't say I'm any different.... And I'd really like her number back by the way," he extends his hand out and Reggie finally, and admittedly a little reluctantly, gives him the piece of paper.

"Except you don't really care about getting caught. It pisses you off, but that's as much as an effect getting arrested has on you," Reggie blatantly asserts. 

"Mmhmm, you know Reg? I was almost touched at your concern for me. Only wish you'd be this concerned about me when you go all cop man on me," He looks at his phone to check the time before taking one more sip of his water and handing it to Reggie." Well I gotta run, wouldn't wanna be late to meet (Name)."

Delsin gets up from his seat and leaves the kitchen. Reggie only sits still in his seat with a smug look on his face as he waits for the impending question from his little brother.

As expected, Delsin slowly walks back into the kitchen with his eyes facing the ground, "Reg could you do me a favor and drive me to the Latte Owl?"

"Y'know I like cop man. Cop man has a car. Cop man would be happy to drive you to your date, baby brother."

"Okay on second thought, how far are we from the place?"

"Oh you know a few miles. Couple thousand feet. Maybe a couple hundred thousand footsteps"

"......."

"........."

"....... Ugh fine. Let's go."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As usual it was raining in Seattle so it only made sense for you to wear your favorite raincoat along with a pair of dark blue jeans and black converses. You placidly walk down the streets with headphones in your ears, tuning out the world with some of your favorite songs. Your phone is well tucked within your jacket, wouldn't want that getting wet, and the Latte Owl is merely a few stores down. Humming along to the music and playing with the drawstrings of your hood, you are in your own zone of bliss. 

Temporary zone of bliss that is, briefly your music is turned down a notch and replaced with a message alert. 

You stop at a spot with cover from the rain and take out your phone to check who messaged you.

‘Hey gorgeous ;)’

"Delsin?" You question yourself.

‘It's Delsin btw’

You smile and giggle at the perfectly timed text. Part of you wondered what took him so long to text you but it didn’t really bother you much.

‘You have a really adorable smile you know?’

"What?" you voice aloud.

‘Look up’

Confused, you gaze ahead and see Delsin a few steps away. You wave to him and as you both proceed to approach the cafe, you take in the full view of him. He isn't wearing the same beanie from yesterday, or any beanie for that matter. His hair is long and loose, and it definitely looks good. He is also sporting grey jeans and a black hoodie to shelter him from the rain. The partial sight of his plaid shirt from under his hoodie makes you slightly grin as you conclude that his style is pretty simple but it fits him so well. 

"Hey," he says.

"Hey," you wave again. "As much as I love the rain I think it's best if we go inside."

"Good idea. After you," he motions with his hands upon opening the door.

You walk in and approach the counter to order your drinks. Once your order is ready, you pick a seat for two and sit across from him.

"So," he starts.

"Soooo," you shyly mimic. 

He releases a small laugh before continuing. “So how are you?”

"I'm doing pretty good. You?"

"I'm alright. Dealt with some technical difficulties earlier," he scratches the back of his head,"but it's all settled now. I'm here," he roguishly smirks. 

"Oh yeah, technical difficulties huh, like what?" you ask.

"Like my brother and his faulty computer, " his face cringes a bit as he recalls his recent memory with Reggie’s laptop. "But tell me about yourself. I know you started yesterday but I think we were interrupted by something?" Delsin tilts his head in fake confusion.

"I think it was someone but yeah how rude was that, right?” you play along. ”And well, as I mentioned yesterday, I like to draw, absolutely love to watch Netflix," you both chuckle, "but regrettably, I don't really do much. But despite my parents, I’m always looking for new things to do, y’know new adventures to pursue,” you take a sip from your coffee. “I don’t really like the idea of limitations regardless of who sets them.”

"Really?" he asks, as if mentally debating something. 

"Yup, how about you, what are some things you like to do?"

"Well, mischief is something I'm often caught doing to say the least," he brings his right hand up to rub his chin. "Music is a must, if I'm not spraying my work on buildings or boulders, I'm drawing in my sketchbook, and I like to practice some parkour around Salmon Bay. I've been doing that for a while I think. It's always been a habit, but it’s pretty fun. Y’know, despite my brother."

You chuckle, “Oh, yeah! Hey how is Reggie? He’s not still mad about yesterday is he?” 

“Reggie? Nah he’s good. He’s pretty used to ruining people’s fun by now.”

You laugh, “He comes off as maybe a tad bit overprotective but it really shows that he cares. But about that parkour thing, that’s so cool! I don't think my parents would ever be cool with me even thinking about trying out that stuff. Your parents seem like really cool people." 

At the finishing of your sentence you notice Delsin's smirk die down a bit and begin to wonder if you had accidentally stricken a wrong subject. 

"Well um, actually my parents died in a car accident when I was a kid," he starts and you immediately regret bringing up the parents subject. "Reggie and our clan mother from the Akomish tribe, Betty, have been looking after me ever since. Reggie's actually not that cool with me climbing buildings and all but he still kinda knows about it and so long as I don't plummet to my death I'll be fine. But even then I think he's only ever really bothered when I try to show off my artistic talent to the world," he winks 

"Well, I for one say it'd be a huge burden for the world if you were to hide it. You're really good you know? And believe me I'm not just saying that because you've already paid for my coffee," you say in seriousness but he laughs and you smile in turn.

"Thanks, glad to know you appreciate it. I'd ask about your parents but I think that's a pretty sore spot for both of us huh?" 

"Meh, I mean my mom is pretty cool. My dad is the one that's just really strict. But I feel like that comes naturally as he’s pretty big and well known by lots of cops.”

“Hmph, could that be why your name sounded so familiar to Reggie?” Delsin cluelessly asks. 

“Yeah,” you wearily sigh. “My dad’s kinda like the Deputy Chief of Washington.”

You wait for Delsin to immediately get up and leave but he doesn’t. He just stays in his seat and silently nods, urging you to go on. And, surprised as you are, you continue.

“I-I know he has good intentions and he's just looking out for me but him being the way he is just makes it hard to-,"

"Breathe," he finishes the sentence for you. 

"Yes, exactly. He's pretty controlling too so it makes it hard for me to actually express myself. That's where art comes in for me. It feels like such a small thing but when I'm sketching it feels like not even I'm in control, but my feelings are. At least whatever it is that is inspiring me for the drawing and it just feels like me." 

You realize you may have rambled a bit and start to blush as you feel Delsin's eyes just stare at you,"Sorry if it doesn't sound like I'm making any sense but-"

"No, no," he contradicts, "I get exactly what you mean." 

Right as you are about to say something your phone goes off, “Speak of the devil,” you scoff as you read your father’s name on the caller ID. “Sorry, I have to take this, just one sec.”

“Yeah, no worries,” Delsin casually shrugs as he starts to get lost in his reverie of thoughts while you talk to your father. 

You groan at the end of the phone conversation and approach Delsin at your table, “Sorry, that was my dad. Apparently he has some errands he needs me to run that cannot wait and also he wants me to pick up some milk. Why he needs the milk is beyond me, since he’s lactose intolerant,” you scoff, “but I had a really good time and really appreciate you not heading for the hills when I told you my dad was Deputy in Chief,” you laugh. “You’d be surprised how many people that scares.”

"My brother’s a cop so it’s gonna take more than another shiny badge to scare me away,” he winks. “Want me to walk you home?" 

"I honestly would but if my dad is expecting me he'll most likely be by the window or something and I think it's best if we just avoid that awkward situation while we still can," you giggle. 

"Yeah I get it," he nods. 

"But we should do this again sometime, I had a really good time. Although it was kinda brief but I'll be sure to buy a ton of milk cartons next time so my dad won't have any reason to be interrupting us again," you joke. 

"Sounds like a plan to me," he laughs again. "But how about next time I take you out to do a stencil with me?"

"Wh- really?" You ask feeling pretty surprised. Delsin was too on his behalf. Normally he wouldn't have just asked anyone to accompany him when he works on his pieces but he genuinely felt a connection with you. He wasn't quite sure what kind of connection it was yet but it was something. Regardless, he knows he enjoys your company. 

"Yeah, it'll be fun. Then later we can grab a bite to eat or-" 

Once again you dad calls your phone but you immediately mute it, dubbing it rude to interrupt people as they speak.

"Sorry I gotta go right now, sadly. But.... text me or....call me...whichever you prefer," you say as you awkwardly start to walk towards the exit. "Just let me know when and where to meet you next time-" again your phone rings and again you quickly mute it, "ugh shut up! Oh, not you Del, or me, it's just my- I'll see ya, bye!" You finally end your humiliation and facepalm yourself once you exit. 

Delsin just waves and lightly laughs to himself. Not at you in a bad way but at your awkwardness towards the end. Still, this in no way changes his opinion of you. In fact, he actually found it kinda cute. 

After you took off, he too goes home and begins to plan out his new stencil design for your next outing. He doesn't know what tag to do but he does know one thing: he's probably going to get arrested again.


	3. Championships and Diamond Ponies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's a surprise but i will say it gets kinda intense and that there's also a small borderlands reference... thank you to everyone who has been reading the story and giving me kudos and continues to do so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I'm fairly new to writing on this website so if someone would please explain to me how to make certain words bold and italicized that'd be greatly appreciated! Xx. Apologies if certain parts seem confusing

Never in a million years would you have thought that you'd become best friends with a man like Delsin Rowe. Not that it's a bad thing, but very different from most things you've done. Certainly you never imagined you'd be filling your bag with rolls of tape and cutting out stencils late at night, all in preparation for an illicit art piece with a certain Akomish friend. Maybe that's what drew you in. Delsin isn't like any other person you've met before, he’s different. He is lively, exciting, bold, outspoken, creative, he is everything captivating, and a total bad boy. However, you never dared to say any of these words directly to his face, you already know better. It would only increase his cockiness and you'd never hear the end of his gloats. Still, you knew you'd always have a retort ready and he'd always mock right back and that was basically all part of a daily routine for you and Delsin. The roots of your friendship.

All it took was a few stencil jobs, running (lots and lots of running), coffee shops, and an aerosol can to build a relationship as thick as thieves. A relationship strictly platonic of course, that's how you prefer to keep it. You’re currently having too much fun with you partner in crime and therefore want absolutely nothing to ruin it. Yet that never stops Delsin from being his usual charismatic self, which leaves you to question yourself if there is a possibility for something more. Only to be followed by you shrugging off the question and completely abandoning the thought...at least for the while. 

And so here you are sitting on the floor by the feet of your bed, cutting out stencils for your first original piece in preparation for the next day. With headphones in your ears blasting off "I Wanna be yours", by Arctic Monkeys, you start to replay the memory of your first time creating a tag with Delsin in your head.

'Are you sure this is a safe spot?' you asked.

Delsin rose from the floor with two rolls of tape in his hands and delivered you a smirk, 'Pfft yeah, totally. Now c'mon stop being paranoid and help me tape this thing.'

You complied and picked up two spray cans and handed one to Delsin.

'Ooh i love the sound when you-,' you shook the spray can and let the sound of the metal ball clashing within the walls of the can finish your sentence.

You giggle to yourself. Never did you really get tired of that sound or the smell. Now it became a habit. It’s fun.

Your phone shuffles on to the next song and so you start to hum to "Arabella,". Man, the Arctic Monkeys have good music. The music is blasting so loud from your ear buds that you’re pretty sure if someone were to walk in your room right at that moment they would totally be able to hear your music clearly. However, unbeknownst to you, Delsin had climbed up your fire escape and had quietly crept into your room.

He stands still as he observes the area until he spots you sitting below the feet of your bed, peaceful and undisturbed. Boy, was that about to change. His left eyebrow quirks up in mischief as a sudden idea hits him. Very, very carefully he begins to climb onto your bed, slowly crawling towards the end until he is practically next to your unsuspecting form. Slowly, he lowers his head to your level. By now you’re suspecting movement behind you but are too late to react before he-

"BOOO!!!!"

"AHHHHH!!!! OH!! YOU LITTLE BASTARD!" you say through gritted teeth in attempt to keep your voice low but at the moment you are more concerned with recovering from your mini heart attack.

You bring a hand to your chest and release a breath you didn't know you were holding in. Delsin on the other hand is literally rolling of laughter on your bed with a pillow clutched to his face to muffle his laughs. Unamused, you get up and begin to pelt him with your two spare pillows. Delsin is caught off guard but quickly retaliates and manages to drag you onto the bed and into a full on pillow fight.

You release a low shriek as you fall on your bed and start to thrash around, aimlessly swinging your two pillows. Amused by your tactic, Delsin laughs and mimics your comical yet potent strategy, using his spare hand as a personal guard for his face.

"Watch the face, watch the face!" he warns, " you hit the face, this friendship ends!"

"The only ship in pillow fights are championships!" you retort as you stand on your knees and ambush him with your pillows.

He lowers his arm shielding his face, "Oh so that's how it's gonna be?" 

Big mistake.

Setting his guard down puts him at an extreme vulnerability, even if for a millisecond. That is all you need. You expertly cease the opportunity, hitting him with your left pillow and went in for a second hit but he deflects it with his arm and hits you with his pillow successfully knocking you off your knees.

"Okay...okay...okay," you say between breaths and laughter before collapsing onto one side of the bed with your legs dangling. "Tie?"

He releases a tired laugh and tosses his pillow onto your stomach before collapsing onto the opposite side of you, "Tie."

"How did you even get here?" you ask as you take the pillow from your stomach and put it under your neck.

"Reggie drove me," he simply replies.

You scoff, "I meant how did you get in my room?"

"Oh," he smirks. "It was a lot easier than you'd think."

"And the heart attack??"

"Okay that was just for fun and partially payback."

"For?...." you sit up from your current position and Delsin slowly rises after you.

"Foorrr stealing my beanie!" he swiftly steals the burgundy hat from your head, putting it back on his head and lays back down again.

"Aw," you frown, you had forgotten you even had it on you at the moment. It's a miracle it managed to stay on during the entire pillow fight. "Pfffftt I looked way better in it anyways."

"You'd look good in anything, babe," Delsin quickly counteracts.

"I'm not your babe," you say as you rise from your spot on the bed and carefully go back to your previous spot on the floor to continue the stencils, making sure your ever reddening cheeks are not in Delsin's line of sight .

"But you're a total babe."

You roll your eyes and scoff as you begin to cut out more stencils. "You know, you really shouldn't tempt me while I'm holding scissors. Wouldn't want anything to happen to that pretty little face of yours."

He rolls over on the bed and rests his head on his right palm to face you, "So you think I'm pretty?"

You scoff again and resume cutting out stencils, "Is there a reason why you're here?"

"Oh feisty are we today?" he finally rises from the bed and walks around your room."Y’know I love how climbable your room is. Seriously, it's like it was meant specifically for me to sneak into," he says as he picks out a book from a shelf and begins to observe it.

Without breaking concentration from your current task, you reply, "Well I’m glad the alternative to my front door suits you so well. You know my dad would never let you walk in through the front entrance."

Surprised by your comment, Delsin narrows his eyes and places the book back on its previous spot on your shelf, "Wow, (Name) thanks. Knowing your dad hates me so much that he wouldn't let me through the front door if I tried really means a lot to me," he says sarcastically as he takes a seat on your bed.

You feel a little muddled by his tone. You can't quite place your finger on it but regardless you attempt to lighten the mood a little, "Well technically he doesn't hate you, he doesn't even know you exist."

"Speaking of which, you're doing a real good job keeping your family in dark about all this," he motions to the stencils. "How does it feel?"

With this question asked, you put down your scissors and sigh, "Necessary. My mom can be understanding but my dad- not so much. Who knows, maybe one day I won't have to hide who I really am," you roll your eyes and continue to cut out stencils again. "Then I'll ride my diamond pony off into the sunset. With double the horns for double the awesome."

"Wait, horses don't have horns, don't you mean like a unicorn?"

You bring your legs closer to your chest and rest your head on your knees as you pretend to cry and release a muffled, "Let me and my diamond pony beeee."

He lightly chuckles and folds his arms across his chest, "Well you don't have to hide who you around me. You know I don't."

"That's true," you pop your head out, "you haven't changed much since the day I first met you. Don't get me wrong though, it's not a bad thing"

"Hmph. That's funny because I don't wish I could say the same about you."

Perplexed and slightly offended you put your scissors down and turn your attention to Delsin, "What?"

"Well," he says as he moves to sit down on the floor next to you,"when I first met you, I obviously didn't know you as well as I do now. We actually became pretty great friends, therefore I'm glad I don't get to say that you haven't changed much since when we first met. You're more than just a pretty girl I met by the bay."

It's become a usual habit for Delsin to flirt with you. Yet it was moments like these, when he'd act and say things like that, that would leave you lingering with curiosity. Could there be something between you two or was Delsin just being Delsin?

Regardless, you decide to play along, "So you think I'm pretty?"

"Oh I think you're way more than pretty," he smirks.

You release a low chuckle in response to his compliment. Then suddenly a clever yet cunning idea strikes your mind. You turn your body to face him and inch closer and promptly his actions follow yours.

"Believe me, pretty would be a major understatement," he adds.

"Is that so?" you learn in a little closer.

"Definitely," he purrs.

"You know I'm kinda glad you snuck in through my window tonight," you lean in more, now only mere inches separating your faces.

"Why's that babe?" He leans in closer.

You lightly scoff at his remark. If only he knew.

"So....-," you trail off to make the pretense of you closing in the gap between you and Delsin. 

"So you can help me finish the stencils!" you laugh as you swiftly stand up from your spot on the floor, leaving behind a very confused Delsin to fall onto your previously occupied seat.

Realizing what just happened, Delsin releases an evil chuckle and rubs his chin,"That was cruel, (Name), real cruel."

You stand triumphantly with your arms crossed and a pout on your lips, "Aw really?"

"Very," he says as he stands up and walks over to you. "But too can play it that game," he pokes you by your rib, earning a loud giggle and flinch from you.

"What, are you ticklish there?"

"What? No!" You protest.

Not buying your protest he pokes again and you release another giggle and quick jump. Amused, he starts to poke you continuously at your new found ticklish area.

"Del...sin....stop!" You plea between breathes and giggles.

Somehow in the midst of laughing and slapping Delsin's hands away, he manages to entangle his arms around your stomach getting an even better leverage in your apparent tickle fight. For a moment you had forgotten where you are and how loud you’re being. That is until you hear a knock at your bedroom door followed by your mother's voice.

"(Name)?" She says, causing both you and Delsin to cease your actions, his arms still around you.

"Is everything okay in there? I thought I heard-"

"Uh-erm yeah mom. I just- stepped on a... lego! Yeah, yeah, you know how annoying that can be," you say as you side glance at Delsin's face hovering over your shoulder, his lips pursed and face turned the other direction to avoid your glance.

"Legos? Do you still even have those-"

"Everything is fine mom, I'll be downstairs in a second okay?"

"Okay honey."

You wait until you hear your mother's footsteps descend the stairs before breaking free from Delsin's hold.

He mockingly pouts at your escape before asking, "Did you really used to have legos?"

"Yeah..."

"Cute," he chuckles. "So did I actually. But I kept getting mad when I accidentally stepped on them. Those things really hurt like a b-"

"(Y/N)!" Your mom calls from downstairs.

“I think she needs you for something,” he lightly giggles. 

"Coming, mom!" you yell towards the door. “Wait here I’ll be back in a few,” you say to him as you exit your room. 

Delsin nods resumes to observing your room. He really did take a mental note of how easy it was to access your fire escape and even wondered why the thought didn’t occur to him before. As he walks around your room he notices the many pictures you have up on a bulletin board of your friends and family. 

“Okay...think she mentioned you before...and you I don’t know…,” he says as he ogles the photos. 

“Ah, there’s the infamous cousin of hers,” he smiles as he recalls you telling him of how your favorite cousin was the one who drove you to the Akomish reservation on the day you and Delsin first met. “Gotta make sure to thank you when I see you… in person because now you’re a photo and… okay just shut up, Delsin.” 

He continues to observe your room and starts to look for any pictures of the two of you. When he can’t seem to find any he begins to feel a little disappointed until he accidentally knocks over a book from your desk and from it slips out a small polaroid picture of the two of you. 

He picks it up and he immediately remembers the day the picture was taken. You two had gone out to the park since it was predicted to have been a very sunny day. And it was until it started to unsurprisingly rain. You had left your umbrella at home and so Delsin decided to use his sweater to shield both of your already damp forms. His height made it easy for him to get coverage over the two of you and that’s when you pulled out your polaroid and took the picture. 

“Cheese!” You said, catching Delsin off guard but he still managed to put on a ridiculously cheesy smile for the picture. 

“Oh man, this one’s a keeper!” You said as you showed him the funny photo of the two of you. Drenched clothes, outstretch arms and big bright smiles. 

“Whatcha got there?” You ask as you walk into the room, interrupting Delsin’s reverie. 

“Hmph? Oh I-uh found this,” he hands the photo to you. 

“Oh, I remember that day,” you say happily. “We got fucking drenched but your off guard smile is priceless,” you laugh. 

Delsin merely laughs and smiles as you observe the photo. However, once you put it back in the book it was originally hidden in, his smile falters. 

“Why don’t you have it up like the rest of your photos,” he asks. 

“What and risk it being seen by my parents?” you say as if the answer is the most obvious thing. 

“Okay,” he scoffs. “It’s kinda hard to not be offended by what you just said there. Is being friends with me that much of a burden to you?” He folds his arms across his chest. 

“What? Of course not I just-” 

“Listen I know you wanna keep the tag stuff a secret but why do you have to hide me from everyone?”

“I’m not! My cousin knows about you and some friends too,” you clarify. “They actually kinda wanna meet you, they say you seem really cool and fun.” 

“Well I’m glad the cousin and your friends approve but would it really be that bad of a thing if your parents knew about me?"

You try to say something as you just stare at him but nothing comes out. 

“What?” He steps closer. “You afraid they won’t approve of you hanging out with ‘some delinquent’?”

“Hey, that's not true, and you know i don't give a rat's ass about what my dad thinks," you say, almost bitterly. 

“Then why hide me?” 

“Why do you suddenly care?”

“Why do I care that my alleged best friend won't even admit to me being her best friend in front of anyone else but me?!" 

If his outrage isn’t seen in his eyes then it sure as hell is heard in his voice. 

You briefly glance at the door before calmly urging Delsin to keep his voice down. 

“No, y’know what, how about I do you one better?” He says as he walks to your window. 

“Delsin, wait!” you follow him and catch him as he still has one foot in your room and the other on the fire escape. 

“Thanks for the clarity on our relationship,” he says before finally leaving through the fire escape. 

Again you call out his name but he either doesn’t hear you or he simply chooses not to. However, after the fight you two just had you don’t blame him if he chose the latter. 

You walk over to your stencils and slump down to the floor as his words and the look of hurt in his eyes just repeat over and over and over again in your head. 

“Thanks for the clarity on our relationship.” 

“Oh fuck,” you sigh and rub at your temples. “What did I just do?”


	4. A job left undone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finalllyyyy a new chapter! This has been sitting in my docs half completed for the longest so it makes me very happy to finally have this finished and ready for you guys! First, there's like one reference to the Uncharted series (really kinda just the one name) so keep an eye out for that. Other than that there is one chapter left for the first part of this two part series! Pretty sure that one is gonna be short so I'll try to upload the last chap to this part and the first chap to the second part on the same day. Anyways, a massive thank you to everyone who stayed with me through the slow updates and I hope you enjoy the new chapter! <3333

You wait nearly 20 minutes for Delsin to show up but he doesn’t. However, after the fight you two had last night, it wasn’t entirely unexpected. You were prepared for his upset behavior or perhaps even another argument to ensue but not for the hurt of being stood up. Him not coming was definitely on the list of scenarios you had played out in your head but at the time it had seemed like such an unlikely possibility to you. Apparently the thought wasn’t too far off to him. 

“Sweater Weather,” by The Neighbourhood, was currently playing on your phone but you pause it towards the end and take off your headphones as you make a decision. With a heavy heart, you lift your body from the brick wall you were previously leaning on and pick up the stencil and tape to lay out your design. Once that’s done you commence spray painting the wall in the according fashion of your design. 

All is going as good as it can be until you hear footsteps behind you getting louder and closer. You panic and prepare to make a quick run for it until you turn around and instantly settle down as you see a familiar and missed face. 

“Hey,” he starts. 

“Oh hey, D,” you cap your spray can and motion to the wall, “I thought you weren’t coming so I went and started ahead.”

“Yeah no I just kinda overslept,” Delsin impassively shrugs. 

“Oh, okay,” you casually remark. “I just thought that you might’ve still been upset because of last night and I was actually gonna talk to you about it and-” 

“It’s fine, (Name).” He quickly interrupts. “There’s nothing to talk about,” he walks past you to pick up a spray can. 

Unconvinced, you tilt your head and turn your body around to face him, “Mmmmm-yeah, no, I’m getting a totally different feeling there might be some stuff we have to discuss. Look I know I-”

“C’mon (Name),” he tilts his head back in irritation at your persistence, “Let’s just do this tag.”

“I’m sorry, ‘just do this?’ “ you repeat, feeling a little offended. “Okay first, please stop interrupting me and second, I know you’ve done this like a million times before but this is my first original piece. So no, I don’t want to ‘just do this’. But how about you, do you even wanna be here right now?”

“No, I do, of course I do,” he sighs and pensively rubs the back of his neck. “I know how long you’ve been working on this.” 

“Okay then so, what is it?” You cross your arms. 

He dubiously looks down at the ground for a few seconds before shaking his spray can at hand in preparation for the project, “Nothing.”

“Nothing, really?” you give him an incredulous look. 

“Yeah, nothing.”

“Listen, if you’re mad then let’s talk, we can’t just ignore the problem.” 

“I don’t know it was working pretty well for me up until now, but why not give it another shot?” He snaps. 

“So what, just pretend like nothing happened?” You ask, giving him a vexed look. 

Delsin says nothing and you scoff, “Fine.” 

The two of you just remain spraying the tag in absolute quietude with the exception of the spray can sounds, nothing like your normal tagging adventures.You hate it when he gets all stubborn like this. You did something to hurt him and you acknowledge that. Why he won’t let you two resolve the issue has you both confused and crossed. 

Not once does Delsin make any eye contact with you, nor does he make a single retort about anything that you do but the foreign silence has finally reached it’s peak.

“You know what, no, fuck you!” you suddenly burst out. 

“What?” Delsin side glances at you, completely perplexed by your sudden outburst. 

“Yeah, fuck you Delsin,” you repeat. 

He turns his whole body to face you, “I don’t follow….” 

“After our argument from yesterday I spent the whole night feeling crappy about myself and I know I deserve it for keeping you in the dark from everyone and I’ve been trying to figure out how to apologize to you for it but it’s a lot harder to do so when you don’t let me!”

“(Name)-”

“No seriously Delsin, I'm sorry! Okay? I'm sorry for hiding you from everyone else. It was totally inconsiderate of me to do so, to not give you a chance, but I honestly didn’t think you’d mind or care for that matter. Especially considering how that’s your attitude for just about everything. Like who cares if you don’t know my parents and they don’t know about you and- 

“Well I do, okay?” He indignantly cuts in. “ Yeah normally I don’t but- I don’t know this is just different.”

“How?”

“It just is!”

Neither one of you notice just how loud your voices are getting or how much of a basic arguing couple you two sound like. Surely any passerby could hear the feud without any intention of eavesdropping. Not that you’d care anyways, at least not at the moment. 

“See this is the type of stuff I was saying we should talk about!” You walk closer to him. “We tell each other everything why can’t you just talk to me about this?!” 

At this Delsin just silently gives you a sad look that does all the talking for him. He’s never given you a look filled with so much doubt and hesitance. You stay silent as well in return, patiently waiting for him say something, anything. But he doesn’t. Instead he walks closer to you and opens his mouth but what you hear instead startles the both of you. 

“Hey, hold it right there you two!” Shouts a tall man decked in a blue and black uniform...with a badge and gun. 

“Crap,” you whisper. 

“Drop the cans and hold your hands up, both of you!” he says as he reaches for his handcuffs and approaches the two of you.

Delsin instantly grabs your hand and you both simultaneously look in the other direction, in hopes of running away from this mess, but another officer is already there blocking your only other exit. 

“Oh, shit” you mutter as you comply with the officer’s command. “This is not good.” 

“Calm down, (Name),” Delsin tries to soothe you. “It’ll be alright…. I think…..shit.” 

Delsin tries to smooth talk the officers into just letting you both off with a warning but you already know this one isn’t gonna be one of those situations.The officers handcuff you both and escort you to their car. The whole thing is happening in slow motion for you, as if time is slowing down with you to process the whole scene and your emotions. You’re not surprised to be feeling a little bit of deja vu but the lack of fear is relatively shocking. It’s not like it’s entirely gone but it’s not overpowering you as you would’ve expected it to in this situation. 

Perhaps some part of you knew this day would come and the feeling of regret is there but not for your actions or anything that led to this event. As the officers drive to the station, you begin to reflect and realize that your only real regret is actually hiding Delsin from your parents. Once they pick you up from the station and they see him this is the only thing they’re going to associate him with. Forget that he’s an actual intelligent, charming, fun and kind person; all they’re going to see is the man who got their daughter arrested. 

‘It’s not fair,’ you say in your head, ‘but it is my fault.’

“I’m sorry,” you hear Delsin speak up.

You give him a sad half smile as you then rest your head on his shoulder, “Me too.”

The police officers slow their vehicle as they near the station and park on their designated area. They exit their car and open the door to escort both you and Delsin into the station. You almost make it through without tripping but unfortunately you don’t see the small step curb before the door that every other person walked over. Thus, by the laws of gravity, you fall to the ground at the misstep and consequently hurt your ankle. The officers didn’t laugh on the outside but who knows what was going on in the inside, yet they still helped you up like the good samaritans they are paid to be. 

As they continue to escort you through the station, they stop by a desk to commence the report, collect both of your effects, and have you and Delsin seated nearby. For this being the first time that you actually got arrested it’s beginning to feel pretty boring. Apparently there’s a lot of paperwork to be filed before you’re thrown in the slammer or wherever you’re supposed to go. You’re not exactly complaining about the delay but you certainly thought more stuff would be happening within the Seattle PD . 

‘Woah, well this is a lot more uneventful than I imagined this place to be’ or so you thought….. 

“(Name)?” A neatly dressed man with a half filled coffee mug approaches you. 

“Oh no,” you whisper.

“What, what happened- who’s that?” Delsin asks, quizzically switching glances between you and the man. 

“That’s my uncle,” you sigh. “Hey Uncle Sully… thought you were at that precinct in California...what are you doing here?” you awkwardly ask. 

“Well, I was in California but they transferred me here. I was actually going to surprise you and your parents this weekend. But I think I’m the one who should be asking questions here,” he crosses his arms, delivering you a heartbreaking look. “(Name) what are you doing here?” 

You look down at your feet in attempt to avoid his stare. You know you can’t avoid his question forever but for a very brief time, the ignorance is bliss. Slowly you raise your head to look at him and open your mouth to speak but before you can audibly pronounce a syllable, Delsin speaks up. 

“--She’s here because of me,” he starts. “She caught me vandalizing a wall and threatened to call the cops on me. I tried to convince her not to but, like the good samaritan that your niece is, she wouldn’t give up. We started arguing very loudly and the cops totally misread the situation and-”

“What? No!” You protest. “That’s not what happened!”

“Miss please don’t interrupt me,” Delsin gives you an offended side glance and continues, “anyways that’s when your boys came in and arrested us.” 

“No that’s a lie! Uncle Sully it was me, it was my- “

“Yes your intervenience that confused the cops I already said that,” he nods his head. 

“Delsin!”

“Enough, both of you!” Your uncle admonishes the both of you. “Chris, what happened here?”

“We were doing our usual patrol over by Baker’s street and Willingham when we heard loud arguing. We followed the sound and while coming into the scene, both of them were holding a spray can in hand which lead us to believe they were both vandalizing a wall,” says one of the officers. 

“Yeah your buddy here walked right in when she took one spray can from my hands and they didn’t even give me a chance to explain-”

“Uncle Sully listen to me-” you cut in. 

“Yeah that’s enough. I think I get the picture here,” Sully silences the both of you with a wave of his hand before rubbing at his temples. “Thank you, officers. Chris, please have you and your partner escort this young lady to her home, discreetly as possible if you please and I’ll handle the rest from here.” 

“Yes sir,” says one policeman while the other simply nods their head. As they approach and unlock your handcuffs you give Delsin a worried and muddled look.

‘What the hell is he doing?’ You say in your head. 

Delsin merely sends you a small reassuring smile before the cops escort your limping form out the station and into their patrol car.

“Why is she limping?” asks your uncle. 

“Oh, yeah she tripped earlier at the entrance when we were walking in here,” Delsin simply replies

“Step curb by the door?”

“Yup,” he nods. 

Sully laughs, “She’s such a clutz that kid. Alright then, Delsin was it?” he asks and Delsin nods again. 

“Stand up and turn around for me Delsin,” he says as he reaches into his pocket and takes out a key, “got a last name?” 

“Uh, Rowe. Delsin Rowe,” he answers as he hears the satisfying click of the handcuffs unlocking. 

“Okay Mr. Rowe, this way to my office,” Sully motions to the right with his hand. Delsin starts to walk in said direction and Sully follows but not before discreetly nodding at his nearby intern and at that the intern nods back and begins away at typing. 

Upon entering his office Delsin casually takes a seat in front of the desk, Sully following suit and taking his seat behind the desk. 

“Okay,” he starts, “explain to me exactly what happened.”

“Uh-well there's not really much to it. I was spray painting a wall when your niece- (Name) was it? She caught me and threatened to call the cops but I tried to convince her not to do that but we got into a pretty heated argument instead and you know the rest.” 

“Really?” Sully asks with an intimidatingly blank expression. “So this was your first ever encounter with (Name)?” 

“Yeah…”

“And judging by your calm composure this isn’t your first ever encounter with the law?”

“Mmm no, it’s not….” 

Sully merely hums in thought as he lays back more comfortably in his chair and continues to stare down Delsin.

“Well,” Delsin claps his hands on his legs, “correct me if I’m wrong but, speaking from experience, isn’t now about the time that I can get my one phone call?”

“You can if you are under arrest, which you’re not.”

“I’m not?”

“You’re not.”

“Then what are we doing here- what am I still doing here?” 

“We’re waiting.”

“For what?”

A knock at the door is suddenly heard by the two. 

“For that,” answers Sully. “Come in, Mr. Sharp.” 

To his cue, a tall man, probably younger than Delsin by a year or two, in a sweater vest enters the room with a folder in his hands, “I’ve got the records you asked for, Detective Sullivan.” 

Sully, or Detective Sullivan, thanks the man upon receiving the file and immediately begins skimming through it. 

It doesn’t take much longer for Delsin to realize exactly what is happening now. It all begins to add up. 

“You wouldn’t be happening to be reading my file there would you?”

“You catch on pretty quick, Mr. Rowe I’ll give you that,” he complacently remarks. “Delsin Rowe, currently resides in the Akomish reservation on Salmon Bay, boy aren’t you a hair off course from home, arrested by his very own brother Reginald Rowe for misdemeanor vandalism more than a few times and no known occupation,” he closes the file and drops it on his desk. 

“I think if you kept on reading further in there you would’ve seen the ‘He’s still seems like a pretty decent guy,’ passage written in very small italicized letters..” 

“Doesn’t my niece know how to pick ‘em?” He asks with an unamused expression. 

“What?...”

“I know this this isn’t your first encounter with (Name) Delsin, I know who you are and not because of the file. I know you’re the guy (Name)’s been sneaking off seeing,” Delsin’s eyes slightly widen. “So you can comfortably sit back and try to finesse me all you want but let’s not waste anymore time than we already have.”

“... How do you know that?” 

“You know that cousin you almost always see her running around with? That’s my kid. Now don’t blame them, they didn’t intentionally rat you both out I just happened to be behind the right door at the right time. Also they don’t call me Detective Sullivan just because it has a nice ring to it, which is does.”

“Wow,” Delsin crosses his arms and sighs as he leans back, “that’s pretty ironic considering the efforts we went to to make this all a ‘secret’. Do her parents know?”

“No, not yet at least.”

“Well then why didn’t you just tell them when you found out?”

“When I found out this information I only found out that she was sneaking around seeing someone. My kid and her are really close so they never really gave me a name and I didn’t press any further on the issue because I trust (Name). Although sneaking around isn’t something I was okay with her doing, I figured that it’s not my secret to tell and so long as it’s nothing illegal, which at the time I highly doubted that it was, that it’d be fine and she’d tell us all when she’s ready. However, when I saw her today with you and those two cops it all just clicked together and I was ready to call her parents. But then you did something… unexpected. You tried to play it off like you didn’t even know her and take all the blame.”

“Well yeah,” he shrugs with his arms still crossed, “I’m the one who showed her all this stuff. I promised her that we were gonna be alright, that nothing was gonna happen to her. I already have a record, she doesn’t need one. I was just thinking on my feet and I don’t regret a single thing.” 

“Well you’re right about the record thing. If it weren’t for her little counter backs it would’ve easily sold anyone. Now how’s that? Neither one of you were willing to let the other take the fall.” 

Delsin rubs the back of his neck and stays silent as he processes this. 

“(Name) is like another kid of my own to me, Delsin. As a person who cares for her, I can see when others do and I can see that you do.” 

“I do,” he mutters, “I really do care about her.” 

“So how long have you two been together?” 

“We’re not actually together-together, I met her a few months back when she visited the reservation. She saw me spray paint- allegedly saw me-”

“It’s okay kid I don’t care for past spray painting jobs just go on with the story.”

Delsin smirks, “She saw me spray painting this owl and I didn’t even know she was there until I turned around to step back a bit. I was actually really impressed by her just sneaking past me but anyways she liked the painting and so we started talking and we probably would’ve stayed talking longer if my brother wasn’t doing his patrol and hadn’t tried to arrest us but luckily I managed to convince him to just let us off with a warning. We offered her a ride home in which she said yes to and once we brought her home I asked for her number, had coffee with her the next day and we just... became really close friends.”

“That’s one hell of a bullet you took for a ‘friend’ today,” Sully complacently replies. “But when the officers picked you both up today I recall they mentioned something about an argument?”

Delsin looks at his feet before replying, “Yeah that was actually part two of an argument that started last night.”

“And what was argument part one about?”

“From the beginning she said that us hanging out and stuff had to be a secret because her dad is super strict and at first I was cool with that. But over time I didn’t want to hide anymore. I’m just naturally not a person to hide who I am because I’m not ashamed of who I am and what I do. It just started to bother me that no one really knew about us and that her parents probably wouldn’t approve of me and usually the approval from others doesn’t matter to me but when it came to them it just did. It just feels different now…” as the words leave Delsin’s mouth a realization hits him. 

“..You care what they think now because… oh...I’m assuming (Name) doesn’t know that this is how you feel?” Sully replies as he catches on to what Delsin is inferring. 

“No,” he sighs. “She doesn’t. Honestly even I didn’t entirely know that’s how I felt. Which is actually what argument part two was about. She wanted to resolve things but I kept trying to stop her… I’m such an idiot,” he rubs at his temples. 

Sully eyes Delsin but for once it isn’t to intimidate him or to figure out his plot, especially considering how Delsin is practically saying everything that he should’ve originally said to you. “You are an idiot.”

“Yeah, thanks for the reminder, Detective,” he says as he rests his chin on his hand and his elbows on his knees. 

“I say that with hope, Delsin. You’re an idiot with time,” he clarifies. “Just tell her how you feel already. As for me, (Name) cares for you and you care for her. That’s all I needed to see and hear for myself.”

Delsin lifts up his head, “Are you implying that I have your approval?” 

“You have my acknowledgment. (Name) is her own person and can therefore decide for herself who she wants to be with or associate herself with. But you seem like a pretty decent guy, guess she could’ve picked a worse person to be with.”

“I told you it said that in the small italicized print,” he grins. 

Sully light heartedly scoffs and shakes his head, “Alright I think we’re finished here. Don’t let me or any of my officers catch either one of you vandalizing anything in my city ever again,” he points a stern finger at Delsin. “If you stop by my intern’s desk he will direct you to where you can get your effects and if you need to call someone for a ride he can do that for you too.” 

“Thanks, Detective Sullivan,” he says as he rises from his seat but before he takes off he remembers something and pauses. 

“Is there something you need?” Sully asks with raised eyebrows. 

“Uh-no I just dozed off for a second there. But don’t worry you won’t catch us doing anything that defies those precious laws that were written and remodified oh so many years ago. But really, thanks for everything,” Delsin says as he actually reaches forward to shake Detective Sullivan’s hand. 

Sully complies with the handshake and Delsin genuinely smiles at him one last time before exiting his office and approaching the intern's desk. 

“Hey there, I’m Delsin Rowe, Detective Sullivan told me you could help me retrieve my effects? Oh and also I’m gonna need the stencils that were retrieved from the ‘crime scene’, those are mine that I need for a commision based project.”


	5. That Day At The Bay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THE END, FINALLLLYYY

You turn left as you approach the all too familiar greeting sign of the Akomish reservation in Salmon Bay. You proceed to park your car at the designated visiting area and sigh upon turning off the ignition. Immediately your mind begins to flood with all sorts of inquiries and concerns.

‘Is Delsin still upset with me?’ 

‘Would he even want to talk after yesterday's whole fiasco?’

‘I wonder what happened after I left the station….’

‘He is still alive right?....’

Okay, the last one just might be amplified worry on your behalf but considering how Delsin hasn't responded to your text messages or calls, and knowing the natural nature of Uncle Sully, it has you a little worried. 

"I'll handle the rest" - your dear ole Uncle Sully. 

To everyone who was there at the police station when all the events of yesterday occurred those words would sound simple and just as is. However to you, someone who's known Uncle Sully, better yet Detective Sullivan, your whole life you know that those words are just a different way of saying "I'll 'take care' of this," and you've seen just enough Mafia movies to ignite your paranoia within. 

Uncle Sully has always been a very ardent man, especially when it comes to family. Not that Delsin is a threat to anyone in any way but Sully doesn't prefer to have introductions conducted at the police station. That would probably place the person on his radar and God help those who are. No doubt yesterday’s sudden run in at the station gave Sully a very not so good presentiment of Delsin and you believe he deserves way better than a misguided first impression. Not to mention the whole confusion in the beginning when he claimed not to know you and that the tag was his doing alone but then you insisted that it was a lie, in which he kept insisting that it wasn't and for you to not interrupt him. Your hands tighten around your steering wheel as you cringe at the memory. You doubt that Delsin fooled your uncle with his claims but you still need to know what happened after you left the station, or at least know that Delsin hasn't been sent off to a country on the other side of the planet with minor communication outlets. 

You exit your car, lock the doors, and begin to walk towards the direction of your friend's house. Curiously, your mind starts to wonder as to why Delsin hasn't been able to respond back to you. Or is it that he simply didn't want to? 

Slowly, you come to a stop and frown in sadness at such a thought, "Could it really be that he's just ignoring me?"

The thought alone has your feet glued in place to the ground. You notice you've almost passed the Longhouse. You turn around to face it and then glance at the two paths available for you to take. You can either go left and walk back to your car and leave or you can go right and continue on the path to Delsin and Reggie's neighborhood. Your eyes linger at the sight of your car a few meters away but you softly shake your head and decide to continue treading forward onto your right. 

"No. I know he wouldn't do that," you mumble. "We just gotta talk." 

You walk past the Longhouse but before you can get very far you hear a familiar voice call your name causing you to halt your march and turn around. Betty is the person who comes into your line of sight and your lips curve into a natural smile. You wave at her as she proceeds to walk down the steps from the Longhouse and approaches you. 

"I thought I saw you," she says as if to confirm an inner assumption. 

"Betty! Hi, how are you?" 

"I'm fine dear and you?" 

"I-uh," you briefly look at the ground, "I've been better." 

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Do you have a fever?"

"Hmm? Oh, no, no it's not that," you lightly giggle, "physically I'm fine it's just.... well I'm a little worried. Delsin and I sorta had a fight yesterday and we haven't really gotten the chance to settle anything." 

"Oh I see, well whatever it is I'm sure you two will figure it out soon," she smiles at you. 

"Thanks Betty. By any chance h-have you seen him today?"

"Yes, but a while back. He took off earlier, something about heading to Seattle. I thought he was going to visit you so I’m a little surprised to see you here." 

Your cheeks briefly heat up at how even Betty just always assumes whenever Delsin goes to Seattle it's to see you, "Oh, I don't know. There's always the possibility that he could've gone to visit the space needle. He tells me he's always wanted to see it." 

"Don't tell him I said this, but I think he'd still much rather see you," she winks. 

"Betty!" you laugh and feel your cheeks get warmer and redder. "That's sweet but after ignoring all my calls and texts and not even notifying me of being in Seattle I don't think that's entirely true," you brood. 

Betty looks at you as if she wants to say more but before she gets the chance your phone suddenly starts to ring. 

"Sorry, just a sec," you say as you casually retrieve your phone from your back pocket and your eyes immediately light up at the sight of Delsin's contact photo. "It's him!" you chirp. 

"Tell him I said hi, I'll be in the Longhouse if you need me," she smiles and walks away. 

You nod and take a brief moment to cool down and collect yourself before answering the call. 

'Okay. I'm cool and collected. I am cool AND collected.' 

"Oh my God, you're alive! Delsin where the hell have you been?!"

"Woah, okay that was louder than anticipated," he grunts. 

 

‘Okay, well, at least he totally is alive and probably temporarily partially deaf from one ear....’

"Sorry," you cringe, though he can’t see you. "That totally wasn't supposed to come out like that."

"It's cool, having Reggie as a brother kind of makes you used to conversation starters like that," he chuckles. "Minus the 'you're alive part' that's only for very special occasions." 

You lightly scoff, "Yeah well I guess I should've already known that you are alive considering how Betty says she saw you this morning. By the way, she says hi." 

"Tell her I said hi back -wait are you at the reservation?" 

"Well yeah," you start to pace around, "you didn't reply to any of my texts or calls so I thought I’d swing by to make sure my uncle didn't go all mafia on you, so to speak," you nod your head. 

"That is so sweet," his voice is laced with amusement as he places his hand over his heart, "you went all that way to make sure your uncle didn't off me."

You scoff in reply. 

"No seriously that's pretty damn nice of you," he chuckles. "Buuut it also makes me feel kinda bad to have sorta made you drive all the way down there when I'm here in Seattle waiting for you."

"Hmmm if only we had like a cool portable communication device which can be used to, oh I don’t know, call people and notify them that they’ll be in town or something ya know. Or better yet ignore calls and texts from said communication device and make people very worried for other people,” you say, partly sarcastically. 

"Yeah about that, sorry for going all awol on you last night... and this morning. My phone died as soon as I got home last night so I plugged it in and went to go take care of some stuff and completely forgot to check it this morning. You're not mad are you?"

You sigh, "I was never mad to begin with, just super worried about you." 

"Well how about i make it up to you?"

"I think with what you did last night I’m the one that owes you. I gotta ask though, why'd you do it? Some part of you must've known that I wasn't gonna just sit back and let you take the whole blame for everything. Especially when it wasn’t yours to take"

"Okay first,” he starts, “you don’t owe me anything and second, all of me knew you weren’t going to let me take the blame. That's why I tried to play the whole ‘annoyed person because someone is interrupting him speak’ trope," you can't actually see him but you can just sense the smirk forming on his face. "It didn't work exactly how I planned it to but it did work out… mostly." 

"What do you mean?" you furrow your brows. 

"It's not a long story but a story for a later time. Later today actually, I need to show you something. Can you meet me by the Latte Owl?" 

"Sure, which one?"

"I'll text you the one." 

"Alright. What is it you're gonna show me, did they release a new drink or something? Because I’m subscribed to their updates and didn't get anything about a new drink." 

"Uh no,” he ponders, “not that I'm aware of but I promise that what I'm going to show you is way better!"

You can hear the enthusiasm in his voice and consequently smile, "Okay, Rowe. I'll see you soon." 

"Can't wait," he smoothly replies and you hang up.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

He takes one last glance at the painted brick wall before he starts on his walk towards the Latte Owl to meet you. Considering how it’s only about a 7 minute walk from where he came from, Delsin arrives at the set meeting place fairly early. It’s when steps into the cafe and is greeted by the bittersweet smell of coffee and donuts that he realizes he forgot to eat breakfast so he decides to order himself some food to sit down and eat as he waits for you. Having traveled several times from Salmon Bay to Seattle himself, Delsin is well aware of the timeframe between the two places. 

After 30 minutes of waiting and playing on his phone Delsin decides to finally dispose of his trash and leave the cafe to walk around the area. Unsurprisingly, it starts to drizzle a little but it doesn’t bother him, especially since it ends after about 3 minutes. He finds himself strolling into an empty park and decides to occupy an unoccupied swing and lazily swing himself back and forth, back and forth. Suddenly, although not surprisingly, your image pops into his head and he smiles. 

(Y/N). 

His best friend.

His partner in crime.

His potential girlfriend?

Today he plans on confessing his real and accidentally repressed feelings towards you and man is he nervous. Which, doesn’t actually happen too often. But in this case why wouldn’t he be nervous? It’s you. Although you two have only known each other for a few months, a little past half a year to be fair, he’s truly never felt the way he does for you for anyone else. It’s different. Honestly, it terrifies him how much he’s grown to care for you and he feels stupid for having tried to repress it, thinking it’d just simply go away. Because of his ignorance you both ended up getting arrested. He feels incredibly grateful that neither of you got into any serious trouble but in a way he’s also appreciative for the experience. Maybe not the handcuff part, not under those circumstances anyways, but in a way the whole thing was a rude awakening for him in regards to many things. For one, his feelings for you, and for another, regardless of the outcomes he has to tell you. Although, he does hope the outcomes aren’t permanently perilous….

A sudden ring and vibration emits from his back pocket, effectively breaking his train of thought. He retrieves his phone, reads your contact name and immediately smiles as answers it, ”Hey, gorgeous.”

“Hey, handsome,” you reply and his smirk expands.“Listen I just wanted to let you know that I’m like 10 maybe 5 minutes away. It’s not super sunny out but way less cloudy than usual so it’s a miracle these streets aren’t that busy. You wanna hang out by the bay for a bit after you show me whatever it is you’re gonna show me?” 

“Uhh, duh,” you laugh at his response. “I’m surprised you felt the need to ask.”

“You’re right, what was I thinking?” you laugh, “but great, I’ll see you in a few,”

“Okay,” he hangs up, hops off the swing and proceeds to walk back to the Latte Owl. 

As he nears the cafe he sees you make your way towards him from across the street and the two of you finally meet at the entrance. 

“Hey,” he starts. 

“Hi,” you smile. 

“So what I have to show you is actually like 5 minutes away from here, but do you want anything before we go?” he asks.

“Um- nah I’m fine. Before I left for the Bay I took a big jug of coffee with me so I’m good. Do you want anything?”

“Nah, I’m good too. Shall we be off?” he makes a gesture to the pavement ahead. 

"Actually before we go anywhere I just wanna say a few things,” you start. 

Delsin nods and looks at you intently waiting for you to begin. 

You fidget with your hands as you think about what to say before coming to a conclusion and looking up at him, “Okay first, I’m sorry. For like, everything. I'm sorry for shutting you out from my parents and not giving you a chance to show them how much of amazing and free spirited person you are. I’m sorry for making you feel like I was ashamed of our friendship because I'm not nor would I ever be. If anything I’m proud to be your best friend and super grateful to have gotten the chance to get to know you and I don’t wanna lose you.” 

“Hey, you’ll never lose me, (Name),” he takes a few steps closer to you. “And you don’t need to keep apologizing, really it’s all okay. We’re here now, together… and now it’s my turn. Yesterday you were just trying to get us to talk and settle things out but I was doing everything in my power to prevent that. It was stupid and for that I'm sorry,” he takes a pause, “The truth is I've been hiding something from you... and from myself," he reaches to grab your hands and continues to look at you. "And today I'd like to show you what it is."

Touched by his apology, you smile and lightly squeeze his hand. Your eyes hold a certain glint that makes Delsin jump out of his reverie in realization to something. 

“Oh, crap. Just remembered… what I have to show you works best as a surprise so you would you mind covering your eyes?”

“Sure,” you shrug and place your hands over your eyes.

“Sorry if it feels like a really poorly orchestrated Febreze commercial,” he says and you laugh. “I was rushing this morning and forgot to bring a blindfold.” 

“No big deal,” you smile. “But your my eyes now so lead the way.” 

Considering how you’re very prone to tripping over air, Delsin figures it’d be best hold you by your elbows to lead the way. Part of you fears tripping into oncoming traffic but luckily you know you have a good navigator for a pair of temporary eyes and that he’d never purposely lead you to danger. As the both of you walk, you and Delsin continue to have casual talk, much like how things used to be before. 

After about 7 minutes of walking, Delsin brings you to a stop. He doesn’t instruct you to do anything yet, rather he stays quiet for a few seconds.

 

Suddenly you feel Delsin rest his hands on top of yours, gently removing your own from your eyes, “Surprise...” 

You open your eyes and are in an actual state in shock and …. Confusion. Before you is the painting you and Delsin were working on the day you got arrested. Because of the incident you didn’t exactly have time or a chance to complete it. For some time you were a upset about it but quickly your concern moved to Delsin and where your friendship stood. 

From behind you you hear some shuffling and when you turn you see Delsin offer you a spray can. With confusion on your face, again, you speak up, “Um did you forget what happened, like, yesterday?”

He smirks, no surprise there, “I’m pretty familiar with happened yesterday. I know that, metaphorically speaking, we almost got our heads chopped off for this but the real punishment would be to leave this piece undone without anyone knowing the artist’s amazing and immense potential. Yours. As a really talented artist myself, I knew you’d want the honor in finishing the tag yourself… or at least I really assumed so…..So whaddya say? One more go for old times sake?” 

“Wow,” you dramatically sigh, “criminal mastermind and he has a way words.”

“You forgot handsome, boisterous, stud--”

“Egotistical, vain… but sweet and caring,” you smile at him as he smiles back. 

His eyes light up as he sees you reaching for the can he holds and together you two go to work. 

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

Since the job wasn’t far from completion when you were arrested, it doesn’t take too long to finish the tag and luckily there was not a cop in sight to catch you two. You step back to admire your work and smile. You then look to your left at Delsin who seems to have already been looking at you with a smile on his face. 

“Thanks for this,” you start. “You know, any moment now this could turn into a really stupid mistake but I honestly have no regrets and I’m glad for your help in finishing this.”

“Anything and anytime for you. You know I do have quite a large amount of experience in making stupid mistakes but sometimes they end up being really good ones….” he slowly reaches for your hand and you look back to him as you entangle your hands with his. 

He turns his body to fully face yours and you promptly follow his actions. You each take a step closer to each other and he begins to slowly lower his face until it closely hovers above yours. You sense his hesitancy and go on your tippy-toes, connecting your lips with his. Your lips move together in sink as his hands travel to your lower back and yours explore his neck and hair. You both break apart after a moment for air but you don’t miss the huge smile on his face. 

“You know what this reminds me of?” he asks.

“Considering how this is the first time we’ve done that I can’t say I do,” you lightly laugh. 

“That day at the bay,” he starts, “when you caught me doing a tag. It’s when we first met…. ‘Course Reggie tried to arrest us but still, one of the best mistakes I’ve ever made considering it lead us to this moment,” he tightens his hold around your back and lowers his head again. 

“Agreed Rowe,” you smile as you lean up to complete the kiss. 

 

YAAAAAAAYYYY Y'ALL FINALLY DID IT. TOOK FOREVER BUT YOU GUYS FINALLY DID IT. First, I really wanna apologize for the REALLY late and long overdue update. Life just really came at me, man. But still, that doesn't feel like a really good excuse but I'm soooo glad to have finally completed this. I was planning on making a second part which takes place when Delsin gets his powers but I'm really not sure about that anymore, mostly just considering how long it took me to finish this part. Also, what's really funny is that I completely changed the ending for this chapter at the last minute. Originally I was gonna have Delsin surprise the reader by completing the tag for her but then I realized that I'm not sure artists would really be okay with that because it's their work and stuff, even though D's just trying to help and junk I'm not sure it would've been totally okay. Idk maybe I overthought it but I'm still pretty happy with how this turned out and I really hope you guys enjoyed it! I also want to thank all of those who have continued to follow this story and read and comment, like, it really means a lot to me <33333 I guess that's all I have to say for now, it's a wrap guys! Thank you and I hope you liked the story :)


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